Having viewed what I believe are the first two episodes of Discovery what follows are my thoughts so far on the show. While it's much too early to form a firm analysis, this show is different from all the other Trek shows and films I have seen throughout the years.
Without spoiling anything I feel that so far the show is very pretty without a lot of substance. While it retains the name, feel and much of the look of Star Trek there were plenty of times this could have been any sci-fi show out there. So far there is very little backstory, but I am going to assume that more will be filled in later. The show immerses you into the what without any of the why. Since this is closer to TOS than Star Trek Enterprise I acknowledge there would be some improvement in technology in the time between shows, but at the same time Discovery feels more advanced than TOS.
I am completely unfamiliar with the director, but it seemed to me that many shots could have been done much better. I am familiar with the writer Bryan Fuller who seems to have a penchant for giving female characters male names (George in Dead Like Me) for example. Fuller cut his teeth under DS9 and also worked on Star Trek Voyager so let's hope for good things to come.
The good:I like the opening credits. It's refreshing to see something different for a change than just a ship flying around space to music.
Michelle Yeoh, who was excellent in Marco Polo as Lotus, does not fail to deliver here. I do feel that she is much too familiar with her subordinates as captain as seen having discussions with her bridge crew, but perhaps she prefers leading through diplomacy. As a military veteran myself I know that doesn't work.
Sonequa Martin-Green seemed to also do a very fine job. I have never seen her in anything before, but her performance is solid and even managed to give me a laugh or two. Hers is the only character that gets any backstory although it is very brief. I'm sure it will be filled in later throughout the season.
Finally Doug Jones is wonderful as Saru. His character reminds me the most of Alan Tudyk's character Wash in Firefly. I expect he'll bring more laughs in future episodes.
The not so good: First, there's the Klingons. My first impression was that they resembled characters from a vampire movie rather than any Klingon we've seen previously. While I felt the creative team was making steps to make them more noble it seemed to me that the main Klingon lead (Chris Obi) was having difficulty talking around his prosthetic teeth. While I like the Klingon's new outfits, I do hope there will be some future explanation as to why the race is so very different looking than any other Trek incarnation to date.
The space battles in EP.2. They looked very cheap and if you've ever seen anyone playing Star Trek on PS4 you might get my drift. I was expecting TOS level phasers, but instead the lasers more closely resemble Star Trek (2009) I don't know if it was due to budgeting or not, but the viewer doesn't really get to see the damage being inflicted as much as you might expect from other Trek shows. There is one pretty ridiculous scene as well, but I'll leave it to you to figure out which.
Finally James Frain as Sarek. To me the gold standard I measure all Sarek's by is Mark Lenard (RIP) and while I'll admit Frain doesn't get much screen time he just doesn't feel or act like Sarek to me. Perhaps he'll get better later on as I do like the actor very much in a number of other films and shows (The Tudors) Like many others I'm the type to give a show 3-4 episodes before I fully commit or decide to quit and I'll do the same here. I guess since it's been so long without a Star Trek show I was really hoping for something better than what has been offered so far.
Without spoiling anything I feel that so far the show is very pretty without a lot of substance. While it retains the name, feel and much of the look of Star Trek there were plenty of times this could have been any sci-fi show out there. So far there is very little backstory, but I am going to assume that more will be filled in later. The show immerses you into the what without any of the why. Since this is closer to TOS than Star Trek Enterprise I acknowledge there would be some improvement in technology in the time between shows, but at the same time Discovery feels more advanced than TOS.
I am completely unfamiliar with the director, but it seemed to me that many shots could have been done much better. I am familiar with the writer Bryan Fuller who seems to have a penchant for giving female characters male names (George in Dead Like Me) for example. Fuller cut his teeth under DS9 and also worked on Star Trek Voyager so let's hope for good things to come.
The good:I like the opening credits. It's refreshing to see something different for a change than just a ship flying around space to music.
Michelle Yeoh, who was excellent in Marco Polo as Lotus, does not fail to deliver here. I do feel that she is much too familiar with her subordinates as captain as seen having discussions with her bridge crew, but perhaps she prefers leading through diplomacy. As a military veteran myself I know that doesn't work.
Sonequa Martin-Green seemed to also do a very fine job. I have never seen her in anything before, but her performance is solid and even managed to give me a laugh or two. Hers is the only character that gets any backstory although it is very brief. I'm sure it will be filled in later throughout the season.
Finally Doug Jones is wonderful as Saru. His character reminds me the most of Alan Tudyk's character Wash in Firefly. I expect he'll bring more laughs in future episodes.
The not so good: First, there's the Klingons. My first impression was that they resembled characters from a vampire movie rather than any Klingon we've seen previously. While I felt the creative team was making steps to make them more noble it seemed to me that the main Klingon lead (Chris Obi) was having difficulty talking around his prosthetic teeth. While I like the Klingon's new outfits, I do hope there will be some future explanation as to why the race is so very different looking than any other Trek incarnation to date.
The space battles in EP.2. They looked very cheap and if you've ever seen anyone playing Star Trek on PS4 you might get my drift. I was expecting TOS level phasers, but instead the lasers more closely resemble Star Trek (2009) I don't know if it was due to budgeting or not, but the viewer doesn't really get to see the damage being inflicted as much as you might expect from other Trek shows. There is one pretty ridiculous scene as well, but I'll leave it to you to figure out which.
Finally James Frain as Sarek. To me the gold standard I measure all Sarek's by is Mark Lenard (RIP) and while I'll admit Frain doesn't get much screen time he just doesn't feel or act like Sarek to me. Perhaps he'll get better later on as I do like the actor very much in a number of other films and shows (The Tudors) Like many others I'm the type to give a show 3-4 episodes before I fully commit or decide to quit and I'll do the same here. I guess since it's been so long without a Star Trek show I was really hoping for something better than what has been offered so far.